This invention relates to an optical connector for use in connecting an optical fiber.
An optical fiber of the type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H8-15567. The optical fiber includes an aligning member having an aligning hole as a through hole for aligning an optical fiber or fibers. In order to connect a pair of optical fibers to each other, these optical fibers are inserted into the aligning hole from opposite ends thereof, respectively. When axial ends of the optical fibers are brought into contact with each other at an intermediate portion of the aligning hole, the optical fibers are optically connected to each other. In order to facilitate insertion of the optical fibers, the opposite ends of the aligning hole are provided with tapered portions, respectively.
It is also proposed to chamfer an edge portion of the axial end of the optical fiber (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H11-223732).
However, since the optical fiber is very thin, it is difficult to carry out an inserting operation of inserting the optical fiber into the aligning hole of the aligning member. In addition, a clearance between an inner diameter of the aligning hole and an outer diameter of the optical fiber is very small, for example, 1 μm. This also makes it difficult to insert the optical fiber into the aligning hole. During the inserting operation, the optical fiber is often damaged. The optical fibers are optically connected to each other when the axial end faces thereof are brought into contact with each other. Therefore, it is not acceptable that the end faces of the optical fibers are damaged during the inserting operation.